STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2544

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2408

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Human Services and Public Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2408 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC HOUSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to prohibit smoking in and around public housing projects under the jurisdiction of the Hawaii Public Housing Authority.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawai‘i and an individual who is a Hawaii Public Housing Authority tenant.  Four individuals provided oral testimony in support of this measure.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Hawaii Smokers Alliance and two individuals.  Comments on the measure were submitted by the Hawaii Public Housing Authority which expressed reservations regarding the difficulty of enforcing the measure. 

     Your Committee finds that while there is support for a smoking ban in the common areas of public housing projects, the ban on smoking within individual housing units may not be enforceable, and does not have equally wide support.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by eliminating the provision that would have banned smoking in individual housing units.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services and Public Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2408, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2408, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services and Public Housing,

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair